The Soul
by KurosakiElric
Summary: During a raid, Wanda begins having headaches, and Ian is concerned. When Wanda starts to hear voices in her head- voices that are not hers, she fears that she's not the only one in this body. Wanda fears that she will be leaving Ian sooner then either of them would like. Unless something could be done. Continuation of the Host.
1. Chapter 1

I see the department store next to the sign.

We desperately need supplies.

Ian walked beside me. He insisted.

I take a deep breath, and walked into the store.

"Hello, you two."

The voice made Ian jump.

"Hello." I answer cheerfully. "We're in need of medical supplies."

"Of course. What's your name dear?"

"My name is Wanderer, but my friends call me Wanda. This is my partner. His name is…" I stop for a second, having no idea what to answer.

"My name is Burns Living Flowers." Said Ian, taking the name of a friend of ours, who waits outside with Jamie and Jared.

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Sun who is Always Shining."

"That's a lovely name." I say.

"Thank you, my dear. Now what do you need." Sun asked us.

"Can we call you Sunny?" asked Ian.

"Of course you can." She said, as I gave her my list of medical supplies.

"I believe we have everything you need, my dears. If you would please join me for tea, I would be happy to get you everything."

"OK. We are in much need of refreshments." I say.

Ian clutches my hand.

I squeeze it, to show him that there is no harm here.

When Sunny walks away, he looks at me.

"I don't like this." He says. "You're in too much danger."

"I'm fine, Ian. Really."

"I know, but this whole thing could backfire. I don't want to loose you."

"You wont, now be quiet."

"But.." I stop him by putting a couple of fingers on his lips.

"I'm here to stay. You wont loose me."

Ian nods, and walks alongside me as we follow Sunny to where she makes the tea.

Suddenly black spots appear in my vision.

I start feeling sharp pain in my head, and I clutch it with my hands, crying out.

Ian stops and runs back towards me.

"What?" he asks me, in a hurry.

"It's the pain!"

"What pain? Where?"

"In… in my.." that's when I black out.

I awake in a soft bed, in a new room. Ian is there, fallen asleep and snoring softly.

I move, and Ian awakes with a start. His eyes are red and bloodshot.

"Oh, thank god!" Ian says, hugging me.

"Jeb, Jared, Mel, she's awake!" Ian yells down the hall.

I hear a rush of footsteps and suddenly the bodies of my friends surround me.

I could no longer see Ian.

"I want to see her!" Jamie.

"No, Jamie. She's not asking for you." Says Melanie.

"It's not _fair_!" says Jamie, and he runs down the hall.

"What happened, Wanda?" asked Jeb.

"I don't know. Really I don't." I whisper.

"She blacked out during a raid." Ian turns to me. "No more raids for you!"

"If I could help, then I-" Ian stops me.

"No. I have spoken. No more raids."

Ian ushers everyone out, and picks me up in his strong arms.

"It's bed time for you, young lady."

"Ok." I whisper. I fall asleep before I even reach our room.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke the next morning to hear Ian snoring.

I roll my eyes and give him a soft nudge.

"Wha…, huh?" he says as his eyes flutter. He falls back to sleep.

I nudge him again, and his snoring stops.

"Wanda…?" he asks sleepily.

"It's me."

"Wha… What's wrong?" he asks.

"It's morning, sleepy head."

"How can you be so sure with it always dark like this?" he asked, groggily.

"Because I know." I say.

"Whatever you say, Wanda."

He rolls over and soon I hear snoring.

Typical Ian.

I soon hear a knock on the door.

"Ian, Wanda, time for breakfast!"

Ian sits up groggily, rubbing his eyes.

"What's wrong…? Wanda?"

"Time for breakfast, sleepy."

Ian sighed, and got out of bed.

Later that morning, we were eating eggs, bacon and biscuits for breakfast. I was due for class any minute now, but I really didn't feel like going. I felt so tired, even though I had gotten plenty of sleep the night before.

Ian made sure of that.

"My god, Wanda. You look terrible." Said Melanie.

I nod, not really feeling like talking.

"Are you sure you want to go and teach?" asked Ian, still concerned.

"Yes. Seeing as I'm not allowed to go on any raids, it seems as though this is the only helpful thing I could do." I respond, giving Ian a dirty look.

"I said, no more raids. I don't want to risk you getting shot, or something. No."

"But…"

"Ian, maybe she should go on another raid, give her another shot." Said Jeb.

"No!" Ian yelled, slamming his fist onto the table. The glasses and cutlery shook from the impact. Ian stood up angrily and left.

I felt worse then ever.

"Tell us about the Fire World, Wanda."

"Well, the Fire World has strange creatures on it." I said, yawning.

"Like dragons, right Wanda?" asked Jamie.

I hugged him. "Yes Jamie, like your dragons. They breathed fire and had huge wings, and…and..and-" I yawned once more.

"Their minds were simple to control, but not so simple to take over. I remember one adventure I had with a dragon-" I said, recounting the tale.

Here's what really happened-

One day I was trying to control a dragon of my own, but I was having trouble. I kept breathing fire, and couldn't control my flight. The dragon's four wings were huge, but they were not very good at low level flight. I kept on crashing, and setting fire to whole forests. However, I did gain control of my host with some help from the host's mind itself. The dragon's eyesight was amazing, almost like night vision.

They have their own version of what humans call echolocation, which they use to see during the day. The sound emitted was louder then the bats of Earth. They are the reason we called that planet the Fire World, though the dragons had another name for it. They had the ability to set themselves on fire at will as a way to attract mates and intimidate rival males. Their life spans from hatchling to adult were very long, longer then a human life span at over a thousand years. Some Souls spend their entire lives in dragons, preferring flight to other modes of travel. Usually the ones "born" on Fire World stay there. The dragons were a florescent dark green color, with shiny small black eyes and large bat-like ears. They had four wings, two jaws, and poisonous spines running down their back and on the edge of their wings. Anyways- I was trying to control a dragon host of my own, and suddenly set fire to a whole forest. I couldn't remember having such trouble with other hosts, but this was a different experience altogether. With the dragon's mind fighting against my own, I tried to level off. One wing was torn almost in half, and I couldn't keep going like this. I crashed into a mountainside, and spent a few days trapped in snow from an avalanche. Weak from hunger and thirst, I used whatever energy I had, to set myself on fire, and burn the snow away. It didn't really work, as only a quarter of the snow melted away. Eventually I heard a scraping sound and saw snow being removed. I knew I was found, but from what, I never knew. I felt pain in my skull as I was being removed from my host. I was put into a cryotank for the next few hundred years… Then when I awoke, I was inside Melanie.

"Wow, Wanda. That was some adventure." Sighed Jamie.

"A few hundred years? _Years?!_" asked Ian.

"I'm not what you would call a young woman, Ian."

Everyone laughed but Ian.

"I don't care how old you are, Wanda. All I know is that I love you." Said Ian.

"I love you too, Ian. I'm glad I have you as my partner."

"I don't know what adventure is better- the dragon, or the ice bear, or whatever you called them. The ones with the crystal cities."

"I don't know, Jamie. They were both pretty exhilarating." I said, giggling.

"I must have seemed lame in comparison to that dragon."

"No, of course not Melanie. You were my biggest adventure. I couldn't relate to anyone else the way I related to you."

"I just remembered that you didn't want to be a monster anymore."

"Melanie… What happened when you woke up?"

"She freaked out. She thought we'd killed you." Answered Jared.

Ian cringed. I patted him on the arm.

"I didn't want to be a monster anymore… because of you, Melanie."

"Why me? Why not Ian, or Jared?"

"I remember not having any say in choosing you as my host, Melanie. I just remember going to sleep after the dragon, then waking up in your body."

Melanie looked down at her plate of food.

"Mel. We're sisters. You've showed me more of your world then the dragon or the ice-bear ever could. You've shown me that humans have more then one side to them." I said, glancing from Melanie to Ian.

"Without you, I would never have met Ian. Or your family. You are more accepting then the other members of my kind."

"Thanks, Wanda." Said Melanie.

"Except Jared and Kyle of course. They wanted to kill me."

_And Ian_. I thought to myself.

"At first. Kyle was a pain though." Said Jared. "I mean, you were defenseless when he tried to drown you in the cave."

I shuddered.

"I'd rather not talk about that experience." I whispered.

"Besides, it would be more then awkward being inside a male." I said, causing everyone at the table to laugh.

"Let's go, Wanda. We have to have another game of soccer. Remember? You couldn't play last time."

"Sure Ian. Let's go guys."

Later that morning, when it was almost noon, we were in the largest part of the cave system.

Ian and Jared were team captains, picking members of their teams for soccer.

"You go first, Ian."

"Thanks. I pick Wanda."

"Mel."

"Doc."

"Jeb."

"Maggie."

"Sunny."

"Sharon."

"Lacey."

Those of us picked for teams separated off.

"Will you be ref, Kyle?" asked Jared.

"Yeah, sure." Said Kyle solemnly.

We played for what seemed like hours. I was pretty Ok, but Melanie was better then I was. Far better. She twisted, turned, dived and kicked and slid when it was needed.

I tried to copy her movements, and when I finally got a goal, I heard Ian shout in celebration.

Melanie got the ball from Sunny, who kicked it in her direction. She bounced it on her leg, then on her foot. Apparently one of the major rules of the sport was that hand to ball contact was forbidden.

I saw the ball come in my direction, and I ran after it. I suddenly tripped and stumbled, and Ian called a time out to make sure I was Ok.

I had a small scrape, and I was Ok after a few minutes rest, but Ian told me I couldn't play anymore this game. I sat beside Kyle on a rock they called the "bench".

I sighed, and watched as the game commenced.

"Bored?" asked Kyle.

I nodded.

"It will be over soon. Jared has Melanie on his team, and she's the best player they've got. No offense to you, of course."

"Of course." I mutter.

When Ian scored another goal a few hours later, the game was considered won by Jared's team. Ian and Jared shook hands in good sportsmanship.

"I'll beat you next time." Said Ian.

"Sure you will!" said Jared.

Ian scoffed and walked towards Kyle and I on the bench.

"Move it." He said briskly to Kyle.

"Fine." Sighed Kyle and he move to stand beside Sunny.

"Good game, huh?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I just wish I could have played more."

"I don't want you to become affected. We have so little medication as it is."

"Ian, you worry to much."

"I just don't want to loose you. You are my Wanderer!" he said, hugging me.

"I know." I whisper.


End file.
